Big Data Virtualization of the Week: Multi-Touch Executive Dashboard

U.S. aerospace and defense contractor Lockheed Martin has partnered with Vizrt, a Norwegian developer of real-time 3D graphics and asset management tools for the broadcast industry, to create a big data visualization tool that combines real-time data processing and display with sensitive multi-touch hardware. The Multi-touch Executive Dashboard, or MED, can be used simultaneously by multiple users, each of whom has access to various display options and data layers. The first large-scale big data visualization implemented is Lockheed Martin’s MED-E (Multi-Touch Executive Dashboard for Energy), designed to graphically illustrate layers of high-volume information about the status of energy resources, distribution, and supply.

Vizrt recorded the above video of the dashboard in action, showing the tool displaying a wide range of geospatial information, from road networks to Doppler radar. In addition to energy, the MED team has envisioned applications in medical imaging, supply chain analytics and defense.